A piece of WWII trench art from the Pacific Theatre. This shield-shaped badge is made of clear celluloid with carved coconut form suspended from brass ring at center and cut-out aluminum upper case letters along top reading Coconut/Bombers, with twisted wire on back for mounting, 1.75" x 2" long.

Coconut Bombers was considered a derogatory term, mainly used by American military commanders to refer to the New Zealand troops fighting in the island-hopping campaign of the Pacific theatre during WWII. This term was much resented by our Allies, especially as they and the Australians had been the only effective forces that the Japanese Imperial Army had to contend with during the early part of the war in the Pacific.

Not a very PC flight jacket. Lt. Ken Strong, who’d been an artist for Walt Disney, created the Pacific Islander character Asterperious for the 319th Bomb Squadron. The jolly roger with cross-bombs was the insignia for the 90th Bomb Group.